No I can't say I have tried that. At first thought, it seems like it would kill the action of the first bead and make it drag the bottom more than you would want. I don't really like the dropper because of this either, it pulls on the first bead in funny ways that gives it an unnatural look. In small water with good vis where I know I am getting my stuff in front of the fish, I will fish the single bead. In bigger water with some color or really generic terrain, I usually go with the double rig as described previously as it searches a bit better I think.

A "big" bead for steelhead is 12mil. Small is 8mil.